OHP confirms driver in wreck had five DUI’s

An Elk City man who was allegedly driving drunk when he wrecked his car last week, critically injuring his 4-year-old daughter, was charged Tuesday with four felonies in connection with the incident.
The suspect is Jonathan Lee Posey, 29. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol release on Facebook said he has five previous DUI’s.
Charges are driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, DUI with blood alcohol content of .08 or more (resulting in) great bodily injury, and two counts of child endangerment by driving under the influence. The second of those last counts pertained to a second daughter, age 5, who was also in the vehicle. She was treated at Great Plains Regional Medical Center and released, as was Posey.
The 4-year-old, whose age was originally listed as 3, sustained head injuries. Her name was not released by OHP, but an interview with her mother aired over the weekend by KWTV (Channel 9) indicated it was Samantha. The mother said the family called her Sammy Sunflower.
OHP’s follow-up press release said troopers discovered Posey had been involved in a verbal altercation in the parking lot of the Merritt School while picking up his daughters shortly before the accident.
“He didn’t make it very far down the road before crashing his vehicle,” said the release. OHP’s first release said the accident had occurred at approximately 3:35 p.m. Jan. 23 on Merritt Road 30 feet northwest of 20th Street. It said the location was four miles west of Elk City and happened when the driver tried to turn left onto 20th but was driving too fast and ran into an embankment.
The daughter who was injured so severely was in a child restraint device but it was not properly secured, said the initial OHP release prepared by Trooper Pate Gossen who investigated.
One of the charges filed Tuesday said the defendant was under the influence of alcohol and incapable of driving safely.
Posey was booked into the Beckham County Jail following the accident.
Channel 9’s interview with the mother said the daughter who was critically hurt suffered head and facial fractures. It said her nose and eye sockets were broken.
The mother told the TV reporter, “There will be hell to pay,” if she found out Posey was intoxicated “because he has a history of alcoholism” and she had asked him if he was drunk and he had told her no.
Posey was still being held yesterday in the Beckham County Jail with his bond set at $100,000.
OHP asked anyone with information about his whereabouts prior to the accident or his conduct at the school to call Troop H headquarters in Clinton at 580-323-2424.